52 | New Scientist | 31 August 2019
The back pages Puzzles
Quick crossword #39 Set by Richard Smyth Quick quiz #18 Puzzle set by Zoe Mensch
#19 The vicar’s age
A bishop visited his friend the vicar on
her birthday. Knowing the bishop liked
number puzzles, the vicar told him about
a family that had just joined her church.
“If you multiply their three ages
together, you get 2450, and if you add
their ages together, you get your own age,
your grace.”
The bishop, after some thought, said:
“I can’t be certain how old everyone in the
family is.”
The vicar responded: “I am older than
everyone in that family.”
The bishop could then tell how old
everyone was.
How old was the vicar on that day?
Answer next week
#18 Cable on the moon
Solution
A power cable buried in a 1-metre deep
trench encircling the moon’s equator will
only be about 6 metres shorter than if it was
laid on the surface.
The radius of the moon (R) at the equator is
1,738,100 metres, but you don’t actually
need that figure to answer this question.
The length of cable on the surface is given
E\WKHIRUPXODë5
Burying the cable 1 metre down reduces
the radius to R-1. The new cable length is
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WRJLYHë5ë6XEWUDFWLQJWKLVIURPWKH
cable length on the surface gives a difference
RIëPHWUHV
6RWKHEXULHGFDEOHLVDPHUHPHWUHV
shorter than one on the surface.
1 Nihonium, Tennessine,
Oganesson – what fourth
name is missing from
this list?
2 9,192,631,770 what of
what equals what?
3 The ICZN, based in
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EDVHGLQ%UDWLVODYD6ORYDNLD
do what?
4 A golfball-sized lump of
90 per cent platinum and
10 per cent iridium (by
mass) fulfilled what function
until 2019?
5 FlyBase collates genetic
information concerning
which fast-breeding
organism beloved
of biologists?
Answers below
Cryptic
Crossword #13
Answers
ACROSS 1 %XONLHU 5 Umbra,
8 Generation Gap, 9 6KDUG
10 Trailer, 12 Median,
13 6WUHVV 16 Chimera,
18 Needs, 20 Quadrilateral,
22 (SR[\ 23 Cold War
DOWN 1 Bogus, 2 Lanyard,
3 Irradiate, 4 Rotate, 5 UFO,
6 Bagel, 7 Amperes,
11 Antenatal, 12 Macaque,
14 Eyebrow, 15 Garlic,
17 Imago, 19 6RODU 21 Ray
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added to the periodic table by the
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istry in 2016.Applied Chem
The International Bureau of 2
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9,192,631,770 oscillations of
the hyperfine ground states of the
= 1 second.-133 atomcaesium
ission m The International Com 3
enclature and on Zoological Nom
the International Association for
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es. al and plant namanim
It was the international 4
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replaced it with a standard based
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Drosophila The fruit fly 5
elanogasterm
ACROSS
1 Intelligence assessment,
purportedly (2,4)
4 Antelope; Chevrolet (6)
8 6SOLWVKDUHG
9 ^ (7)
11 Term used to describe
the technological
revolution by Harold
Wilson in 1963 (5,4)
12 Abnormal growth
projecting from a
mucous membrane (5)
14 B (5)
15 3HUKDSVRU
16 Marriage within a social
or ethnic group (8)
18 3LFWXUHSX]]OH
20 6HH'RZQ
21 Harvey ___, rubber
tyre pioneer (9)
24 Condition caused by
YLWDPLQ'GHILFLHQF\
25 Of algebra, functions or
variables, relating to a
19th-century logician (7)
26 3DFLILFFOLPDWH
phenomenon (2,4)
27 $EQRUPDOH[LWRIWLVVXH
$QVZHUVDQGWKHQH[WFU\SWLFFURVVZRUGQH[WZHHN
DOWN
1 BBBHONH[WLQFWGHHU
species (5)
2 6RFLDOPHGLDSODWIRUP
launched in 2006 (7)
3/2086SDODHRQWRORJLVWDQG
essayist (7,3,5)
5 Friedrich ___, inventor
of a scale of mineral
hardness (4)
6 Air sacs in the lungs (7)
7 õ+DFNWLYLVWöJURXS
10 Fastener patented
in 1849 (6,3)
13 2011 science fiction
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Gyllenhaal (6,4)
14 Cretaceous clay found
in Wyoming (9)
17 Waterproof garment (7)
19 %DFWHULDOQHXURWR[LQ
22 6SLUDOKRUQHGDQWHORSH
23 6WDU7UHNSKDVHUVHWWLQJ
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Quick quiz #18
Answers